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The Source
Passages: Nick Sylvester Celebration of Life
January 28, 2013
A Celebration of Life for Nick Sylvester will be held on Monday, February 4, at 4:30 p.m. in Agnes Flanagan Chapel. Nick was a senior Math and Computer Science major from Chico, California. A reception will follow immediately after the celebration.
Nick was born on August 10, 1991 and died on January 1, 2013. He is survived by his parents Rob and Carol, and his brother Matthew and sister Megan. He was valedictorian from Chico High School in 2009, and during his high school years he excelled in both academics and sports.
Nick played lacrosse and soccer, where he earned all league honors on the Chico High team.
While at Lewis & Clark he was a student employee and "ambassador" working for the Annual Fund phonathon, where he became an important member of this calling team. He also worked with Professor Peter Drake for three summers where he studied artificial intelligence computer models designed to play the classical Asian game of Go. Nick presented and published two paper on his research. He also spent a semester abroad studying in Budapest, Hungary.
Nick enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, bike riding, playing video games, and shopping forays at Thrift stores. He was a fun loving, adventurous, easygoing person, and you could always find a smile on his face followed by a warm hug.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Nick Sylvester Scholarship fund at Lewis & Clark College. Contact firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Yes, Walker, Texas Ranger himself has endorsed someone for president, thus cementing the fact that the presidential campaign has superseded beer and toilets to become my fail-safe column topic.
When Chuck Norris jumps into a pond, he doesn't get wet, the water gets Chuck Norris.
And when Chuck Norris does pushups, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the earth down.
And when Chuck Norris endorses someone for president, he endorses … Mike Huckabee?
Yes, Walker, Texas Ranger himself has endorsed someone for president, thus cementing the fact that the presidential campaign has superseded beer and toilets to become my fail-safe column topic.
In so doing, Chuck Norris has shown he has the foresight and wisdom to carefully weigh all the contenders and pick, without regard to special interests, the candidate with the funniest name.
For my part, I'm hoping the Norris endorsement sparks a race among all the candidates to see which action stars they can garner endorsements from. Because I don't think I can make up my mind until I know who Dolph Lundgren would vote for.
Norris' nod for Huckabee's bid drew such media write-ups as "Another 'Chuck Norris Fact:' His pick is Huckabee" and "Huckabee nabs coveted Chuck Norris endorsement" and "Sarcastic newspaper headlines up by half over last quarter."
It also proved that the roundhouse-kick jokes most reporters come up with on deadline are lame.
Huckabee is the latest of the second tier candidates to get the he-could-have-a-chance treatment from the media, a status that rotates regularly. Chris Dodd had his run a while back; Joe Biden is just too loud for the media to ignore; and ex-candidate Sam Brownback got to ride his I'm-from-Kansas credentials into the spotlight anytime social conservatives pushed something goofy like a constitutional amendment against premarital hand-holding. Before this whole circus is over, I'm sure we'll be reading long-form magazine pieces titled "Maybe Tom Tancredo isn't crazy after all."
Everyone will get this treatment – oh, except Alan Keyes.
Norris endorsed Huckabee in his column on conservative news Web site WorldNetDaily. So apparently, Chuck Norris is also a columnist, meaning he and I have something in common besides back hair.
Among Norris' reasons for backing Huckabee are his stances on moral issues and the highest praise he gets from his wife and kids. (Psst! Chuck! Politicians' families get paid by the campaign to do that.)
Also pleasing to Chuck is that Huckabee apparently wants to eliminate the IRS. Knowing that, I might vote for the guy.
Additionally, Norris compares Huckabee to the biblical King David, saying, "Seven men were poised and paraded for the position of king, but David was left in the field shepherding because he wasn't 'a frontrunner in the polls.' " And as we all know from Sunday school, from that shepherd's field David went on to get second place in the Iowa caucus and then sweep Super Tuesday, thanks to his superior direct-mail campaign.
Apparently, Huckabee was not the first pick. In a previous column by Chuck on what he himself would do if elected president (require members of Congress to work out on the Total Gym at least 15 minutes a day), he says he's still hoping for Newt Gingrich to run.
Thus proving my theory that when Chuck Norris backs a presidential candidate, he chooses the one with a funny name.
E-mail Noah Blundo at firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Red Sox enjoying hot start to second half
Red Sox enjoying hot start to second half
It started on the road against the Rays, with the Sox taking two out of three games at Tropicana Field. Returning to Fenway Park on Monday to open a seven-game homestand, Boston won three out of four against the White Sox.
So far, it's been a team effort. And it doesn't hurt that Boston welcomed back Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford and Dustin Pedroia from the disabled list all in the last week.
"We're finally getting healthy, our lineup top to bottom is as good as there is in the game," said outfielder Cody Ross, who has nine RBIs in his last two games. "Guys are getting on base, and that puts pressure on the opposing team. So hopefully we can keep rolling."
Thursday's 3-1 win over Chicago marked the first time this season Boston's lineup featured Ellsbury, Crawford and Pedroia. It's not all about them, though. First baseman Adrian Gonzalez has five straight multi-hit games, and Ross had three homers in his last two games entering Friday.
"When you look up and down our lineup there's a threat at every spot as far as getting on base, stealing a base, hitting a home run or just creating runs," Ross said. "It's a good feeling to have and a luxury."
The Red Sox have also benefited from strong starting pitching to begin the second half of the season. In four out of five wins, Boston has gotten a quality start.
"I think now they're healthy and they're feeling good about themselves, and I think that's a good way to get on a roll," said manager Bobby Valentine.


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TAMRA is one of the most popular fluorophores used in various bioconjugations. 5-TAMRA is the purified single isomer of 5(6)-TAMRA. It is preferred for some complicated biological applications where reproducibility is more critical than material cost since the minor positional difference between 5-TAMRA and 6-TAMRA might affect some biological properties of the underlying conjugates. 5-TAMRA is more often used than 6-TAMRA for labeling peptides and proteins. 6-TAMRA is predominately used for labeling nucleotides and sequencing nucleic acids. The 5-TAMRA-protein conjugates are suitable for immunofluorescent staining, in situ hybridization, flow cytometry and other biological applications. The kit has all essential components for performing the conjugation reaction and for purifying the 5-TAMRA-protein conjugates. The kit is able to perform three conjugation reactions with each reaction labeling up to 5 mg IgG. Kit Size: 3 labeling reactions (3 x 5 mg protein)
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MADBURY — Tomie dePaola's "The Night of Las Posadas" in new musical adaptation is coming to the Union Congregational Church of Madbury, Saturday, Dec. 1, with two performances.
First published in 1999 this award winning book written and illustrated by New London's Tomie dePaola is a tradition in itself and has become an international phenomenon.
Las Posadas (Spanish for "the inn") is a traditional Spanish festival which is popular in Mexico and the American Southwest. The festival re-enacts Joseph's search for a room at the inn. Each Christmas season a processional with actors playing Joseph and Mary walks through community streets. The processional stops at a variety of buildings and is turned away by the devils inside. Finally a church/community center invites them in to sing Christmas carols called villancicos.
Tomie's publisher gave New Hampshire artists, William Ogmundson (composer and lyricist from North Sutton) and Tom Dunn (librettist from Henniker), rare permission to adapt this work into a one act musical theatre piece that will be performed by four professional singers as well as membersof the choir and audience. Tom and Will have collaborated on a number of musical theatre works over the last several years and they'll be working with singers Linny Kenney of Bath, Cindy Johnson of Sutton, Fred Sprague of Hillsboro and Scott Sweatt of Errol to bring this work to life. Technical aspects highlight the gifts of videographer, Bob Robertson of Dartmouth, costumers Babette Haley and Susie White of Hillsboro, and wood carver Michael Martineau of Chichester.
Tomie dePaola, (author) (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) is best known for his books for children. Published for over 40 years, he has written and/or illustrated nearly 350 books, including Strega Nona, 26 Fairmount Avenue, The Art Lesson, and The Night of Las Posadas. Over 15 million copies of his books have sold worldwide. Let the Whole Earth and Sing Praise Strega Nona's Gift are his newest books.
Tom Dunn, (librettist) is Artistic Director of The Alchemists' Workshop, a 14 year old 501c3 theatre organization dedicated to building communities through the development of original works of musical theatre. Tom founded and ran The Playwrights' Center of Minnesota and Theatre of the First Amendment in D.C., and he also has been Artistic Director of New Dramatists in NYC, Kenyon Festival Theatre in Ohio and New Tradition Theatre in Minnesota. Tom has written 50 produced plays and librettos and has also published four books.
William Ogmundson, (composer and lyricist) is a classically-trained pianist and accomplished composer. He wrote the music for the past six productions of the NorthEast Shakespeare Ensemble, and was commissioned to write a piece for Plymouth State University's 200th Anniversary celebration. William's compositions include the musical "Pollyanna," written with Trish Lindberg and published by Dramatic Publishing in 2011, and "Benny Pierce: A Ghost Story," with Tom Dunn. His work with Trish Lindberg on "TIGER" was broadcast on NHPTV this Fall, and he wrote the music for "Marking the Moment" (also with Trish Lindberg) which will be premiered in January at Plymouth State University. Many of William's original compositions are included on his five CD's. www.williamogmundson.com
The Alchemists' Workshop is in its 14th year presenting musical theatre workshops and was awarded the 2010 Aurand Harris award by The Children; s Theatre Foundation of America for best small theatre and has awards from Youth Serves America, Hasbro's United Healthy Heroes and The Point of Life Foundation. www.alchemistsworkshop.org)
Two performances are on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Union Congregational Church, 20 Town Hall Road, Madbury. Seating is limited to 70 by general admission. Doors open 30 minutes prior to the performance times. Recommended for ages four through adult. One hour with no intermission.
Tickets are $5 each for adults and children.
For mail orders, please indicate 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. show, number of tickets at $5.00 each, and home or cell phone. Enclose a check made payable to Union Church. with a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Mail to Union Congregational Church, 20 Town Hall Road, Madbury, NH 03823. Mail orders received after Thanksgiving can be picked up on Dec. 1 at the door from 10 a.m. until one hour prior to show time.
For phone reservations, call 603-742-9380 to leave your request on the answering machine. Indicate 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. show, number of tickets @ $5.00 each and YOUR home or cell phone for confirmation reply message from us. Phone orders can be picked up at the church on Dec. 1 from 10 a.m. until one hour prior to show time. All tickets not picked up one hour prior to show time will be released for sale to a wait list.
For more information www.madburychurch.org
Madbury hosting Tomie dePaola's 'The Night of Las Posadas'
MADBURY — Tomie dePaola's "The Night of Las Posadas" in new musical adaptation is coming to the Union Congregational Church of Madbury, Saturday, Dec. 1, with two performances.


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I have a few loves, how about you?
Making Diaper cakes for all the babies is one of my favorite things to do.
Its amazingly fun to see it all come together. I just love looking at them.
I'd decorate my house with them if I could talk Zeus into it, no such luck yet!
So here's the latest one, for a precious little girl who's room is Butterflies.


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Our Values:
Compassion – We put patient care at the forefront of everything we do.
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Ownership – We set plans and follow through, with accountability for results. We do what we say we will do.
Collaboration – We connect, collaborate and communicate among a trusting team.
Attitude – Above all, we take a positive, can-do approach because that is contagious.
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I have no intentions of kicking the bucket – ever. I have no intentions of getting old either. We'll see how all of that works out.
Bob Pusateri (Blog | Twitter) posted his bucket list this morning and it seemed like an interesting topic for an early day such as this. You can see his Bucket List here.
Pilot an aircraft – preferably something very fast. I would even settle for a ride in a cockpit of an F-18 (Blue Angels) or F16 (Thunderbirds). I know – the F-16 is a single pilot cockpit. The point is – I want to ride up front in something really fast.
Skydiving – at least once.
Start my own Business. It would be nice someday to be a consultant.
Write A Book. Someday it would be nice to at least contribute to a publication, preferably about SQL Server or something career minded.
European Vacation. I would like to take my family on a vacation to Europe. I have been and lived there. It would be good for the family to see different parts of the world.
Speak at the Summit. I think I will practice a lot before that happens. I will start submitting sessions for Summit, beginning with 2011.
Be Teleported. I don't want to experience the same things as we see in Willy Wonka. I would rather it be more like Star Trek teleportation.
See Bears. I would like to attend a game at Soldier Field and watch the Bears play. Even better if I could take a couple of my sons with me.


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A dog with a bone was on the roam,
Where can I find this bone a home?
Will I bury it next to the tree?
No, too easy for others to see.
What about next to the garden shed?
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Behind the sty where the pigs all are,
What about somewhere right away far.
I think I know what I will do,
I'll just sit down and have a chew,
Tomorrow is another day,
I'll find a spot then for the bone to stay.
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In Deeply Loved, Keri Wyatt Kent has written a 40 days devotional type book to encourage readers to get closer to God and to experience His complete never ending love. God loves each of us like we're an only child. God desires to connect intimately with each one of us and you're supposed to enjoy being in His Holy presence. Each day contains a scripture verse and a "Presence Practice" to guide readers into studying the love of Christ in more depth.
Keri Wyatt Kent made a great point about setting a part quiet time for God and being intentional about seeking God's face. Solitude benefits us because you're more inclined to listen to God so that we can hear the things He's wanting to convey to us. Some of us are wanting to be closer to God and have a stronger relationship with Him. But building a relationship always requires sacrifice of time on our part. An important quote was, "What advice would you give this spouse, longing to feel the love of her husband? Hopefully it's obvious: in order to feel more connected, this person needs to spend time with her spouse. It's that simple. Sit down on the couch and talk about your day. Go for a walk and talk about your dreams. Go golfing or sailing or enjoy some other activity together. Make love. Just be together!" (Page 43). It's the same way with God, we have to spend time studying His word, praying, and enjoying being in His presence.
Day 28 entitled, "Trust" was very life changing for me and vastly revealed to me the things I worry about. Keri Wyatt Kent shared a personal story about trusting God with all of her worries, fears, and concerns. Her son injured his hand in volleyball practice and he had a sprained finger. Like any parent, her mind was going through all the worst possible outcomes. Her problems began to overwhelm her and she was stressing. Her husband is self-insured and his insurance policy doesn't cover an orthopedic specialist. She had to trust that God had it all figured out and she didn't have to worry. Her son's hand thankfully healed and no trip to the doctor was needed. One important thing Keri did was write down and list what she was worried about. And she replaced her worries with things she had to be graceful for. I decided to do this as well.
Some of my worries are: Losing my parents, never going on a date, never marrying, never having children, not having good friendships that last through the seasons and changes of life, not being good enough, being alone, and never seeing my dreams and desires come true.
Things I am thankful for: Jesus dying on the cross for my sins, my salvation, a place to live, parents that love me and care for me, a family that would always be there for me, pets to love, food to eat, the ability to cook meals, music to listen to, and books to read.
I would recommend this wonderful book to anyone who needs a reminder that God loves you completely. God's love is unfathomable and on this side, we won't ever realize how much He truly does love us. This book will help readers to experience a life changing relationship with the person who created you. I immensely love how Keri Wyatt Kent related to the readers and shared personal stories and ways she became confident in the truth of God's love. The book will reveal to you His caring loving touch in your life. If you're longing to enhance your relationship with God and take it to a whole another level, then this book will substantially impact your life!
"I received this copy of Deeply Loved for free from Abingdon Press for this review".
If you would like to purchase a copy of Deeply Loved, check it out on Amazon.com:


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Embedded System àla Carte
How many times have you faced the problem that after the specification phase is complete you simply cannot find a matching microprocessor with the required type and number of peripherals? How many times did you find out that for the closest matching microprocessor no Linux port is available? How hard was it to put together all the tools you need to design and debug your system? How many hours have you spent working around all of these issues? In any case, relax! The Virtex-II Pro FPGA family and the corresponding tools combined with MontaVista Linux OS and development environment enables you to pick your system à la carte and saves you a lot of time and sweat.
The Virtex-II Pro FPGA family offers up to four hard-core PowerPC 405 processors, 16 Rocket I/O 3.125Gbps serial transceivers, 3.8Mb of block RAM (BRAM) and four million system gates on a single programmable platform chip. This rich set of features opens the field for a wide range of applications and provides high flexibility for system designers. Single-chip systems with an arbitrary number and type of I/O devices are possible. For example, you can have five UARTs, a PCI bus and several Gigabit Ethernet ports all controlled by the on-chip processors.
An Xilinx partnership with IBM introduces support for the hard-core PPC405, a robust busing standard and a device fabrication process. Xilinx offers a wide variety of intellectual property (IP) cores for the Virtex-II Pro FPGA, which are predefined hardware blocks that directly snap into IBM's CoreConnect bus technology (Figure 1).
Figure 1. IP Cores Connected to CoreConnect
CoreConnect has several features for interconnecting the processor to the FPGA fabric in order to construct system designs. The key CoreConnect features are the application-oriented system buses, which include the processor local bus (PLB), the on-chip peripheral bus (OPB) and the device control register (DCR) bus. Selected IP cores include many forms of I/O and external memory controllers. For I/O, the cores include 16450- and 16550-compatible UARTs, IIC controller and SPI controller. The memory controllers include support for SRAM/FLASH, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM and ZBT devices. More sophisticated, system-level I/O is also available as IP cores: PCI cores, 10/100 Mb Ethernet, Gb Ethernet and the System ACE configuration interface. Each core is delivered with a corresponding driver where appropriate. The drivers are shipped as source code.
The powerful software design tools that help the user make use of the processors, the IP cores and, more generally the FPGA, will be described here in more detail. The interaction of this hardware and software is unique for the Virtex-II Pro FPGA because it enables the design of a completely custom embedded system solution on a single chip. The issues of hardware/software codesign include use of powerful application software tools for embedded Linux and some unique tools for embedded debugging. Before delving into codesign issues, let's look a little deeper inside the Virtex-II Pro FPGA.
The PowerPC 405 processors run at 300+ MHz and each have 16KB of data and 16KB of instruction cache. The PLB and OPB buses run at 100+ MHz. A powerful feature of the Virtex-II Pro FPGA is the implementation of the on-chip memory (OCM). The OCM is memory that has similar access characteristics as the processor caches but is managed by the user. The Virtex-II Pro FPGA implements the OCM as dual-ported BRAM, allowing for an extremely fast data path from peripheral devices to the processor or as a communication buffer between processors.
The Rocket I/O 3.125Gbps serial transceivers support many different communication standards, listed in Table 1. Important features like buffers, 8B/10B encoding and decoding, and CRC calculation and checking are implemented on-chip and do not take space away from the FPGA fabric.
Table 1. Virtex-II Pro Platform FPGAs support these protocols and baud rates.
The BRAMs can be used as memory accessible by the processors and can be connected to CoreConnect or as OCM. While OCM offers better performance and a direct way to the processor, hooking up the BRAM to the PLB makes it available for DMA transfers where the processor is not involved. It is up to the system designer to decide how the BRAM is used best.
The FPGA fabric can be filled with IP cores provided from Xilinx or with user-specified designs. While some of the IP cores interact with each other, others work completely in parallel.
Because FPGAs can be reconfigured dynamically you can even switch the number and type of devices while the system is running. Such a flexible platform needs a powerful operating system and tools for hardware and software engineers to develop and debug their embedded applications.
Depending on their application, users may choose from a wide variety of COTS (commercially available off the shelf) real-time operating systems, proprietary RTOS or embedded Linux environments. In the Linux arena, Xilinx chose MontaVista Linux as a suitable embedded OS and development environment for the Virtex-II Pro FPGA family because of its extreme versatility. Linux, by default, supports a wide range of devices. Xilinx and MontaVista Software chose to use a layered device-driver approach. It is split into a low-level, OS-independent layer that directly sets up on the hardware and an OS specific adaptation layer that sits in the middle between the OS and the low-level drivers. Xilinx provides the low-level drivers written for optimal performance and best use of the functionality of the IP cores. MontaVista Software implements the adaptation layer for Linux and uses its expertise for a seamless integration of the drivers. Both driver layers are pushed into the open-source repository and are released under the GPL (General Public License). All device drivers can be compiled into the kernel or are available as loadable modules. Being able to load and unload driver modules supports hardware that can be reconfigured while the system is running. Replacing hardware in a running system is a well-known process for external devices like USB devices and PC cards, but replacing hardware on the chip and dynamically loading the corresponding Linux driver is something completely new.
The Linux port is first targeted toward the Virtex-II Pro ML300 Platform from Xilinx (shown in Figure 2), and it supports most of the IP cores and hardware on this board. Since the ML300 is an elaborate board with a lot of functionality, it will be easy for users and customers to adapt the port to their own specific hardware. MontaVista Software offers professional support for such projects.
Figure 2. Virtex-II Pro ML300 Platform—Bottom View
Still, hardware and software engineers need powerful tools to develop, boot and debug their systems. With System Generator for Processors, GDB/XMD, System ACE and ChipScope Pro, Xilinx has a complete tool suite for all aspects of hardware, software and systems engineering.
System Generator for Processors (SGP) helps you put together the design for the Virtex-II Pro FPGA both on the hardware and on the software sides. In user-friendly dialog boxes you can specify all the parameters for the system, like base addresses for the peripherals, interrupts to be used and amount of memory present. As a result, SGP emits the hardware design files that are ready for FPGA implementation or simulation and a parameter file that is used when the Linux kernel is built and the corresponding driver modules are created. Listing 1 shows an excerpt of the parameter file. In this case, the user assigned parameters to configure the interrupt controller in the system.
Listing 1. Excerpt of the Parameter File to Configure the Device Drivers
SGP gives system architects the flexibility to investigate different options and variations for their new embedded systems. Setting the parameters to different values tailors the hardware and software to the specific requirements. Only functionality that will be accessed and used is included in the system; other functionality is stripped out of the design. Additionally, devices are preconfigured with the default parameters. As a result the hardware and software use less space, offer better performance and the initialization process is much simpler (in some cases it is not even required). SGP and its companion tools use an open interface that makes it simple for users to add their own hardware functionality and software drivers. XMD is a debugging server using the on-chip debug (OCD) protocol to communicate with GDB on the host system. It controls the target system through the JTAG port of a processor in the Virtex-II Pro FPGA. At the same time, XMD serves multiple GDBs. Thus, it is possible to debug more than one processor at once. More specifically, all four processors within one Virtex-II Pro FPGA can be debugged simultaneously. On Linux, GDB runs on the command line or with one of the different front ends. It is compiled with support for the Insight GUI but can also be used with DDD and Emacs.
In GDB the PPC405 architecture was added and the "target ocd" command was extended to support all the features of the Virtex-II Pro FPGA. As a result all the registers of the PPC405, the caches, the TLB (translation look aside buffer) entries and the contents of the OCM cannot only be inspected and changed but also can be mapped into the memory space of the processor.
Debugging an embedded system traditionally has been a difficult process. You have to look at hardware and software at the same time. An external, non-intrusive software debugger like GDB combined with XMD is a big help. Additionally, the PPC405 supports hardware breakpoints and allows freezing the processor on exceptions. But especially when processors and peripherals are integrated on the same chip, it is difficult to see what transactions are executed and how (in which order) memory is accessed. All the important signals are buried within the chip, and there is normally no way to get access to these signals. The Virtex-II Pro FPGA does not have such a limitation because it integrates peripherals as soft hardware. All signals are visible and can be accessed with the appropriate tool.
ChipScope Pro is an integrated hardware logic analyzer. It consists of a logic analyzer running on the debugging host system and a set of trigger and data units compiled or inserted into the hardware design. The integrated logic analyzer (ILA) units can be hooked up to any number of signals inside the FPGA and can trigger on user-defined conditions or processor bus transactions. Multiple ILA units can be active at the same time. Sometimes it is useful to hook up multiple ILAs to the same signals. In one case, we hooked up two different ILA units to the PLB address and data lines to resolve a problem with corrupted memory. One ILA was hooked up to the PLB signals connected to the PPC405. We knew that the processor would do a memory access at the time when the corruption would occur. The other ILA was hooked up to the PLB signals connected to the DDR memory controller. By comparing the address and data lines reported by the two ILA units, we were able to isolate the problem and fix it. Having access to the hardware and being able to watch bus transactions is very useful, especially in Linux where the MMU is used. From a software perspective, the same physical block of RAM can be mapped into many different virtual address spaces. On the hardware level, all addresses are physical.
The combination of ChipScope Pro, GDB and XMD gives the developer extremely high visibility into the system. The software tools share a common cable and communicate through the JTAG port of the FPGA. The friendly cooperation between the tools reduces the number of cables and makes the setup of the debugging environment much easier.
The boot process is an imminently important phase when an embedded system is powered up. In a few steps the components on the board, the processor, the memory system and the communication infrastructure are brought up. On the Virtex-II Pro FPGA, the boot process happens in two steps. On one hand, the FPGA is configured, and on the other hand, the processor is started. The FPGA needs to be configured with its functionality in one of many different ways. We will show one recommended method later in this article. Often a specialized primary boot loader is used to start the processor, bring up the system, load the Linux kernel into memory and transfer control to the entry point of the kernel. The Virtex-II Pro FPGA supports this traditional boot method where the primary boot loader resides in external ROM or in internal BRAM. The latter case removes the need for external ROM in that the primary boot loader is included in the bit stream that configures the FPGA. Immediately after the FPGA is configured the processor is released from reset, starts reading instructions from the internal BRAM and executes the primary boot loader.
A new and, especially with MontaVista Linux, powerful solution to boot the system uses System ACE. System ACE is a companion chip external to the Virtex-II Pro FPGA and allows booting a system without having any ROM. It has two main functions. For one, it boots the system by configuring the FPGA, the processor and any device on the processor bus through the JTAG chain from a CompactFlash card or a Microdrive. And two, it uses the same storage device as a filesystem accessible by Linux.
The Microdrive contains a FAT12 or FAT16 and a Linux partition. The Linux kernel is configured with support for the System ACE device, compiled, converted into a System ACE-specific file format, concatenated with the configuration bit stream for the FPGA and stored on the FAT filesystem. On power-up, System ACE reads the configuration file from the FAT filesystem, configures the FPGA and boots the kernel. During the boot process, the Linux kernel mounts the Linux partition on the Microdrive as a root filesystem. The non-obvious advantages of booting with System ACE are that no memory at all is required at the reset vector of the processor, different boot configurations can be stored on the FAT partition and the boot configuration can be changed by normal file operations.
System ACE works on the JTAG chain like an external debugger through the debug port of the processor. Code, data and, if required, a RAM disk, for the Linux kernel are loaded through the JTAG chain and the processor bus into system memory. Configuration of any devices in the system accessible by the processor can be done in the same way before the kernel is loaded. And at the end, the program counter of the PPC405 is set to the start address of the Linux kernel and directly executed from this location.
A switch points System ACE to one of eight active configurations. The configuration to be loaded also can be set by software. A running Linux system selects the new configuration, resets the system and boots into this new configuration that may consist of a different set of peripherals.
The FAT filesystem allows Linux to update the System ACE file while the system is running—a very powerful solution to upgrade hardware and software in-system and on the fly.
The Virtex-II Pro Developer's Kit adds another dimension to a successful system design experience. The kit allows you to simulate your embedded system before you build real hardware and introduces another abstraction level during the debugging phase. Each component of the system can be simulated on its own. Once the whole system is put together, hardware and software can be run in the simulation to verify the functionality of the embedded system. Problems observed in real hardware can be taken back into simulation and tracked down. GDB/XMD can be configured to connect to HDL simulators and enables an engineer to follow the program execution step by step and watch the bus transactions and hardware state changes as they occur. The completeness of the combination of the Virtex-II Pro FPGA with MontaVista Linux makes it an ideal platform for many different applications. The Rocket I/O serial multigigabit transceivers make it interesting for telecommunications, for example, in base stations where complex calculations have to be combined with high bandwidth and enormous computing power. The same transceivers can also be used as a backplane interconnect between multiple devices. The available peripherals combined with up to four processors also make it an ideal platform for data and graphics terminals or even as a workstation.
The integration of processors into the FPGA fabric offers some opportunities for interesting system architectures and future development. On the architectural side, in a simple system, multiple processors can be interconnected by a shared PLB. A more complex system uses a switched approach to prevent congestion on the bus and gain better performance. Due to the nature of FPGAs, system designers might start with the simple approach and later change their strategy. In any case, Linux will have to support the architecture. Since semaphores and mutexes are easily implemented by dual-ported BRAM, resource management and access to shared memory are straightforward. Hardware/software coprocessing will improve system performance a great deal. While hardware is fast and can execute in parallel, software is much more flexible. Linux will call certain system functions that in reality are implemented in hardware. It will be a challenge for the system designer to find the functions for which it makes sense to off-load into hardware, but it pays off in a faster and more dynamic system. In an even more complicated system Linux will use dynamic coprocessing. It partially reconfigures the FPGA with the desired hardware functions optimized for the currently running applications. While one application calculates extensive FFT transformations, another application searches for patterns in a data stream. Whenever the scheduler transfers control to one of the two applications, it also replaces the corresponding IP. Based on statistical data, the scheduler decides whether the application will be hardware accelerated or whether a corresponding software function is used. The Virtex-II Pro FPGA and MontaVista Linux combined with the corresponding system generation, debugging and configuration tools is a powerful and flexible solution. It enables you to implement the design in your specification and not the one given by hardware and software limitations, increases the integration factor without losing observabilitiy, reduces time-to-market because of available IP cores and related software drivers, and finally, opens a new dimension to your creativity with respect to hardware/software codesign.
Michael Baxter has been working in computer technology since he was nine, imprinted by a 1969 viewing of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He is an experienced computer architect, system, board and FPGA logic designer. Michael holds ten US patents in computer architecture and logic, plus five patents as a co-inventor. His interests also include hiking, amateur radio and programming in Lisp.
Peter Ryser works as a systems design engineer for Xilinx, Inc. He is responsible for various embedded software-related projects for Virtex-II Pro and can be reached at email@example.com.


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New Home builders work diligently to insure that their homes follow accepted construction standards and local building codes. However, there is always the possibility that things happen out of the ordinary. All buildings get wet. In some cases building components fail and prolonged water intrusion can result in mold problems. When a question arises about suspected mold growth, a prompt, professional response by a knowledgeable indoor environmental professional, that is sensitive to the issues surrounding homeowner and builder relations, can help solve unanswered questions and minimize the warranty costs. If mold problems are discovered, we can help to establish a scope of work that is sufficient to solve the problem. Without an accurate scope of work remediation firms will either establish an area of containment that is too small and does not completely address the contaminated area or too large and costs more to remediate than is necessary.
New building materials are being designed to minimize off-gassing. Occasionally there is a question about odors and chemicals used in material manufacturing. If these questions arise, we can provide you with prompt and expeditious assessment services that will identify or eliminate potential sources of objectionable odors.
Benefits of Using Our Services:
- Minimize warranty costs
- Protect the health and safety of homeowners
- Limit your builder liability
- Protect the value of the property
- Improve and enhance builder/homebuyer relations


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Vim is still one of the most powerful text editors out there. One of its more useful features is that it allows you to set up your own abbreviations and mappings. These can speed up the typing of stock phrases or do far more complicated things. Enter these in command mode to try them out, or add them to your ~/.vimrc (without the initial colon) if you want them to stay.
Abbreviations (use iab for abbreviations that work only in insert mode or ab for abbreviations that work in any mode) and mappings (use imap for mappings that work in insert mode, or map for mappings that work in multiple modes) are very similar. Broadly speaking, if you're doing something you'd normally use the command-line mode for, use a mapping. If you want a set of characters to expand into a longer string while you're typing, use an abbreviation.
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- The basic 'shorten a stock phrase' type abbreviation:
If you type YDATE, this will output a string like 'Mon May 04 11:01:58 2009'. (You can also use abbreviations to fix common typos, e.g.,
:iab YDATE
=strftime("%a %b %d %T %Y")
:iab teh the)
- Reformat the current paragraph according to the current textwidth by
hitting Ctrl+L:
:imap <C-L>
gqap :map <C-L> gqap
- Underline the current line with ,u or double-underline it
with ,U (this is useful for text note files):
:imap ,u <ESC>yypv$r-o :imap ,U <ESC>yypv$r=o
- Take out unwanted newlines: Turns every paragraph into a single line:
This is helpful when you're editing config files that need not have line breaks (e.g. ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2), but you have your textwidth set for normal reading of textfiles.
:map ,L :%s/(.)n(w)/1 2/<CR>
To list all the mappings that have been set, use :map.


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The Ship-kings was a title given to the great King Tarannon Falastur and his three successors: Eärnil I, Ciryandil and Hyarmendacil I.
- Tarannon Falastur (T.A. 830-913)
- Eärnil I (T.A. 913-936)
- Ciryandil (T.A. 936-1015)
- Ciryaher Hyarmendacil I (T.A. 1015-1149)
The Ship-kings did much to expand Gondor's naval and military might. Between them, they enormously extended the South-kingdom's control over the southern lands of Middle-earth, including the lands west of the Mouths of Anduin, and as far south as Umbar and the Harad.
Their influence was such that, at the end of the reign of Hyarmendacil I, Gondor had reached a peak of strength and power that it would never again surpass.[1]
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion"


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Arlington, Virginia: Still Cooking with Gas at Faccia Luna
Faccia Luna Trattoria
2909 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington VA 22201 (map); 703-276-3099;
Pizza Style: New York–style
Oven Type: Gas deck
Price: 10, 12, 14, and 16-inch pizzas, $8.95 to $22.75
With wood-fired pizzerias sprouting up all over the Washington area (some great, some not-so-great), it's easy to forget about the New York-style, deck-oven pizza that dominated the scene until very recently. Five years ago, most people here thought Neapolitan was a type of ice cream. Where did we even eat before 2 Amys and Paradiso and RedRocks?
Faccia Luna in Arlington has been a standby for nearly two decades, and still serves a very satisfying pie. The handsome restaurant, in a prime Clarendon location, is a favorite with families and singles alike and offers terrific pizza along with a well-rounded Italian menu. All pies are available in miniature-to-gargantuan sizes and could almost hold their own if transported north to the tri-state area.
Faccia Luna's Margherita (we'll indulge the use of that name) is your basic tomato and mozzarella incarnation, and is about as close as you'll come to NY-style in DC. The endcrust is somewhat puffier than the archetype, but it's yeasty, beautifully browned, and has a pleasing spring. The cheese is commercial mozzarella, and while there's a bit more than absolutely necessary, it adds a good chew to the slice. There's a well-balanced sauce, not too sweet and wisely applied, that completes the formula and doesn't draw undue attention to itself.
Beyond this, the offerings are nearly limitless, with no fewer than thirty toppings available and a dozen named pizzas on the menu. The Melanzane Bianco is a real winner, with generous slices of rich sauteed eggplant and creamy goat cheese on a mozzarella base.
While no one outside the region has yet been able to replicate the magic formula that results in what people in New York call "pizza," Faccia Luna makes a valiant effort and succeeds in numerous ways. You're happy while you're there, you're happy when you leave, and—with any luck—you're happy the next day when you see the box in the fridge.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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